Hospicomm, Inc. v. Fleet Bank, N.A.
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
338 F. Supp. 2d 578 (2004)
Hospicomm (plaintiff) managed bank accounts for Hamilton Continuing Care Center at Fleet Bank (defendant), restricted to authorized cardholders, but a former employee, Martinez, obtained an ATM card from Fleet without Hospicomm's or Hamilton's knowledge and withdrew over $148,000 using it. After reimbursing Hamilton, Hospicomm sued Fleet, alleging the bank violated the UCC's Article 4 duty of good faith by issuing the card without notice and failing to catch the suspicious withdrawals; Fleet moved to dismiss, arguing Article 4 doesn't govern ATM transactions.
Whether a withdrawal from an automated teller machine constitutes a written item subject to Article 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code.